Abstract
This study examined the amount and type of information expert and novice psychologists sought about a client to form their clinical impressions. Novices (N = 14) were graduate students in psychology who reported a mean of 1.8 years professional experience; experts (N = 14) were university counseling center psychologists with a mean of 13 years experience and who were peer-nominated as experts. All were presented with the same short description of a client and her presenting problem, then were to ask whatever questions they believed necessary to make an assessment and treatment plan. Experts and novices did not differ with respect to their confidence in their assessment. However, compared to novices, experts requested significantly more information (Ms of 23.1 vs. 14.9 questions) and focused less on crisis aspects of the client situation (56.5 vs. 64.4% of the questions).
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O'Byrne, K.R., Goodyear, R.K. Client Assessment by Novice and Expert Psychologists: A Comparison of Strategies. Educational Psychology Review 9, 267–278 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024739325390
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024739325390